Yesterday was Monkey-B's 9th birthday, and I had previously promised her all of my freetime and agreed to say "yes" to every request.
Obviously, Swimming First 🏊♂️
I have been sharing way too much swimming content lately, but that's basically how I spend any freetime I have with Monkey-B. On her birthday, she wanted to take a dip with Dad right after arriving home from school, and of course I said "yes."
Puri Pizza, Yes 🍕
Puris are a traditional fried south Asian flatbread, but I used puris to invent a snack many years ago that my family and I fell in love with and still enjoy to this day. I call the creation "puri pizzas," and it's one of Monkey-B's favorite foods, and her meal request on this day. I made 32 puri dough balls and began frying them like a robot in a factory 🤖, saying "bleep bloop blop" as I watched them inflate in the wok.
Monkey-B was ecstatic since our swim, and I aimed to keep her in this mood until bedtime. She loves playing with and creating her own food, so any meal that involves building is pure joy for her. There is no recipe for puri pizzas other than having puris on-hand and putting any ingredients on top of them that you enjoy, then eat.
After many years of research and development, I have scientifically determined that the best toppings are shredded carrots (the cheese), thin-sliced tomatoes, lime juice, salt, roasted sesame seeds, fresh thin-sliced shallots. pickled onions, and a hot sauce made from vinegar, green chilies, olive oil, and vinegar.
Puri pizzas are nothing like pizza other than being round, made from dough, and eventually going in your mouth, but I actually prefer them to our favorite vegan pizza, the clasic pizza marinara.
We shared some with the neighbors, and I made 32 because there is nothing worse than not getting fully satisfied and having the puris run out of your life. I highly recommend you make a puri pizza spread some day, they are out of this world, and an awesome pre-campfire food.
Dad, Make Fire 🔥 Yes
Monkey-B has actually been asking for a fire for many months, and I'm ashamed I've never felt I had enough time to enjoy life moments like this. Lately though I've been caring less and less about financial problems and focusing more on being the parent my daughters need. On this day I had already decided I wouldn't be posting from my blog, and that ASEAN Hive work can wait until after the kids are in bed.
I surprised Monkey-B with a mini firepit, and her joy charged my soul batteries to 100%. We summoned our inner caveman, caveteen, and cavechild, and entered the meditative state that fire seems to put most humans in. We spent hours just playing with sticks and staring at the fire, and I am thankful to have a daughter that values my time more than any gift I could buy from a store.
Starting a fire for pleasure is a weird thing in Cambodia, where 99% of all our fires are usually mounds of plastic bags and bottles, and full of carcinogenic dioxin fumes. The site was so rare that even neighbors came by to marvel at our pleasure fire, haha, silly foreigner.
Monkey-B eventually got bored and wanted to play with a piano app on her iPad, and with this being a 9th birthday, I welcomed a mix of tech and primal. After putting Monkey-B to bed, I was so drained that I couldn't stay awake to make a blog and ASEAN Hive curation post, so I drained enough voting power to cover 6 hours of sleep and called it a night.
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